Longhorns advance to College World Series

AUSTIN — It took four years, three regional failures, a 25-inning marathon and an extra night of work against pesky TCU, but the Texas Longhorns are finally going back to the College World Series.

UT beat the Horned Frogs 5-2 in the third game of the NCAA tournament super regional at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Monday, sending the Longhorns to their record 33rd CWS appearance and first since winning their sixth national championship in 2005.

Thanks to a strong outing by freshman righthander Taylor Jungmann — who struck out five and allowed only two hits in six shutout innings — the Longhorns will move on to Omaha, Neb., where they’ll begin CWS play on Sunday. Chance Ruffin, who started and won the first game of the super regional, got the final two outs for his second save.

The Longhorns (46-14-1) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a leadoff infield single by Michael Torres, a triple off the center field wall by Brandon Belt and a line-drive two-run home run Kevin Keyes ripped over the bullpen in left field. They added two more runs in the fourth on doubles by Keys and Cameron Rupp and an RBI single by Connor Rowe.

The Horned Frogs (40-18), who were playing in their first super regional in the history of the program, didn’t manage a hit off Jungmann until the fifth, when Bryan Holaday led off the inning with a single to right. But Holaday was erased when Jungmann (8-3) induced a double-play grounder off the bat of Jason Coats.

Tyler Lockwood (4-2), who gave up four runs in 3 1/3 innings, took the loss.